Deer Breeding and Hunting Season

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November is breeding season - also called “rut” - for deer. In NH, the white-tail deer population is estimated at 85,000 statewide.

Deer now occupy two social groups: family groups of female “does” with their fawns or in groups of rival male “bucks.”

Deer establish a scent-based chemical landscape during the rut when male territorial behavior peaks. Bucks rub antlers against supple saplings scraping bark from bow-shaped maples or small conifers to remove the antler “velvet” and to deposit scent from forehead glands.

Bucks also kick back leaves and soil to create conspicuous “scrapes” where they urinate while depositing scent from hind leg “hock glands.” Bucks check their scent posts to intercept receptive does or interloping males. When a doe in estrus visits established scrapes, bucks intersect her trail and pursue her with near blind abandon. By November, dominant bucks compete to mate with multiple does while driving rivals from their territory.

Breeding ends in December. Bucks shed antlers in January. After a 6.5 month gestation, fawns are born by early June and remain with does until the following spring.

Wildlife biologists use estimates of population density to set regional hunting seasons. The “winter severity index” varies according to days last winter with deep snow. Shorter doe hunting seasons allow populations to recover after a severe winter. Of the state’s 18 deer management zones, only 6 are open to taking does this year. “Antlered-only” rules apply to the rest.

Last year roughly 1/3 of the 9,800 deer taken were does and 2/3 were bucks during the hunt which culled 11% of the State’s deer population.

"For As Long As Men Kill Animals, They Will Kill Each Other."
The world's violence and forced domination, the mirror image of the worldwide class system, took hold at the advent of the herding culture, thousands of years go. As the book, The World peace Diet" teaches all those who truly desire peace, manifesting the essence of all religions, we must set the telescope backwards and discover how our species took a path that led to war for resources, and the ills humankind grapples with today.
Once we re-think our place in nature as stewards, protectors, keepers of the gift we are part of, rather than the power driven, tyrannical , competitive view that nature and animals are "here for human utility," we would evolve to the place people pray about, but are not taught by religious leaders( too afraid to loose their flock, hence, their jobs)how to bring into fruition.
The aggressive behaviors manifest by the ideologies that animals are here for humans, besides the aggression manifested by eating their flesh, would disappear if humanKIND evolved to consider animals as having inherent rights to their LIFE SPANS.
The profound tragedy is that a socio-political-economic system that legalizes predatory behavior, as hunting and eating animals is, at some point, it seems that point is NOW, begins to feed off itself and become predatory in its behavior towards humans, as we see with predatory lending, predatory marketing,predatory acts of violence against others who cannot defend themselves;children, women, elderly.
Reverend Andrew Linzey remarks,"Animals are GDS Creatures, NOT human property(anymore than humans are human property)nor utilities, nor resources, nor commodities, but precious beings in Gds sight.
As long as mankind causes animals to suffer, our world will be filled with the same.
It is that simple.
Not only does hunting cause unimaginable suffering, it carves away the Divine sensitivities children are born with that allow them to love animals, until they are taught to be callous and that killing and eating them is normal, just part of being humans. This lie has gone on far too long, and we ALL suffer as a result.